ISLAM 262 the Processes Crucial to This Werdegang of the Babi Reli
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261 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ISLAM 262 The processes crucial to this Werdegang of the Babi reli- gion are the rejection of violent jihad (i.e. the Lesser Jihad), the transformation of martyrdom (i.e. solely within the con- text of persecution), and the beginning of the unfolding of a new ideology concerning the nature and purpose of self- sacrifice. Dr Dehghani makes mention of this process in Martyrium und Messianismus, and announces a fuller treat- ment in a planned next volume. At the best of times it is difficult to apply any kind of general theory to the comparative study of religion; every religious tradition has developed its own hermeneutics, its own methodology. Whether or not a single, unifying theory which will incorporate these literary, historical, anthropo- logical, and theological approaches for the comparative study of religion is either possible or desirable, time will tell. Dr Dehghani makes an effort to establish a first tentative approach, although a single frame of reference may yet be far away. Hence, Martyrium und Messianismus raises inter- ISLAM esting questions concerning the role of theory in the field of Babi and Bahaˆi studies, and how they fit in the wider field DEHGHANI, S. — Martyrium und Messianismus. Die of monotheistic religions. Geburtsstunde des Bahaˆitums. (Diskurse der Arabistik, The second phase of the project, entitled “Das Nachleben 17). Verlag Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2011. (24 traditioneller Märtyrerkulturen in der Gegenwart”, addresses cm, XIV, 303). ISBN 978-3-447-06547-4. ISSN 0949- the fact that in modern times the figure of the martyr has 6807. / 68,- certainly not disappeared, not even in secular, more politi- cally motivated, settings. The present-day martyr has his From 2005 till 2008 the first part of a two-phase project roots in tradition, however, and Dr Dehghani’s second pub- entitled “Märtyrerfigurationen in der nahöstlichen und lication will deal with this in a Bahaˆi context, and with the europäischen Kultur” was conducted at the Zentrum für Lit- way in which political considerations prompt the present eratur- und Kulturforschung of the Free University of Berlin; persecutions of Bahaˆis. the second phase was started in 2008 and is scheduled to be Martyrium und Messianismus is more than a book on Babi concluded in 2013. One of the impulses behind the ZfL pro- concepts on either martyrdom or messianism; it provides a ject was the fact that after 9/11 the word “martyr” is often scholarly contribution to the (until now) rather meagre amount synonymous with “suicide terrorist” in the minds of most of research into Babism, certainly in the German-speaking people. The project sought to nuance this image through sub- academic world. Not much research is published via aca- stantial research. demic channels, and not all research is of equal quality. The first phase, “Märtyrer im religionskulturellen Ver- The book includes, helpfully, a section on the present state gleich”, focussed on the martyr as Grenzfigur; diverse mar- of research on the subject; the bibliography is extensive. A tyrologies were researched on an interdisciplinary and inter- glaring omission is, alas, the absence of a subject-index. religious basis, including literary, theological, historical and anthropological approaches. Leiden, January 2013 R. KALVELAGEN Dr Dehghani’s field is Babi and Bahaˆi studies. Martyr- ium und Messianismus, the result of the first phase, shows * the continuities and discontinuities of Babi martyrology * * with its parent, Islam; it treats the subject of jihad exten- sively, and Dr Dehghani shows how Babism differs from HAJI, H. (ed.) — Inside the Immaculate Portal. A History the Islamic tradition in this respect. He describes in great from Early Fatimid Archives. A new edition and English detail Twelver Shi¨i concepts concerning Messianic expec- translation of ManÒur al-¨Azizi al-Jawdhari’s biography tations, and how the Bab manifests himself as a religious of al-Ustadh Jawdhar, the Sirat al-Ustadh Jawdhar. figure both confirming and contradicting that tradition, a I.B. Tauris, London & New York, 2012. (22,5 cm. XXII, figure who departs from traditional expectations and initi- 183 (English), 196 (Arabic)). ISBN 978-1-78076-268-5. ates a wholly new theology with a new set of concepts. Dr £ 29.50. Dehghani addresses the process of the gradual detachment (Abnabelung) of the Babi religion from Islam, in particular Among the many eunuchs who served the Fatimids, some Twelver Shi¨ism, and its endeavours to become a religion at the highest levels of authority, none achieved as remark- in its own right, thereby offering a solution to the knotty able a status as Ustadh Jawdhar, a Slavic slave inherited problem of where to place it within the framework of reli- originally from the Aghlabids who went on to become, at the gious history. The Judaeo-Christian and Shi¨ite Islamic tra- height of his career under al-ManÒur and al-Mu¨izz, so pow- ditions are juxtaposed, showing that certain elements are erful he occupied the role of wazir in all but name. A telling common to all monotheistic traditions. Babi history is pre- sign of his importance was the caliph’s permission for Jaw- sented in successive chapters, developing theory as the nar- dhar’s name to appear on the royal tira of the time. Cloth rative unfolds. Babi and Western (eyewitness) accounts embroidered with the name of the imam-caliph was strictly enliven and further clarify this narrative. controlled; the only additional name allowed on it was that 263 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXX N° 1-2, januari-april 2013 264 of the wazir. Obviously the Fatimid imams under whom in reply. We get to see the latter but not the former. Thus the Jawdhar served trusted him implicitly and accordingly they exact nature of the request or even what it might have con- came increasingly to rely on his services and continued loy- cerned is missing. The reply is then correspondingly vague or alty. It seems clear that he was a highly skilled administrator meaningless to us. With so many documents in the collection as well as a deftly adroit courtier. He was moreover almost we have already heard ample testimony to Jawdhar’s high unique among the eunuchs in his devotion to the Fatimid regard with the caliphs. A further litany of praise might seem imams, not merely out of gratitude for favors but apparently a waste of time and effort, perhaps a bit of overkill. out of genuine religiously based belief in their sacred rank. This defect is, of course, not the fault of any modern edi- Most significant in his case is the sheer abundance of infor- tor but rather a symptom of al-Jawdhari’s excessive devotion mation about him that has been preserved, chiefly the mate- to his patron. Such a handicap, however, applies more prop- rial contained in the volume under review, which might be erly to the second half of the work. The author arranged his taken as a kind of biography of the man. material in two sections, the first of which, although mainly Despite its Arabic title Sirat al-Ustadh Jawdhar (“Biog- also consisting of copies of documents, includes items con- raphy of the Ustadh Jawdhar”), however, the work is actu- nected with Jawdhar’s service to the first three Fatimid ally best understood differently. Instead of a conventional caliphs. Many pieces in this section are highly significant, biography, it is a personal archive of collected tributes and some even verbatim copies of key documents. Together also testimonials from the Fatimid imams, most attesting to their they do begin to provide the sort of information from which high regard for Jawdhar and his service to them and their Jawdhar’s biography might properly derive. For historians of cause. Over the course of his life, which kept him often in the period, moreover, they are invaluable. In them we find close and intimate proximity to these imams, he benefited crucial information about the succession from one caliph to from various favours bestowed by them on him personally. the next, about troublesome relations among members of the One was his manumission by al-ManÒur from slave status in royal family, a proclamation of victory over Abu Yazid, the 336/947 following the final victory over the Kharijite rebel Kharijite rebel, a letter announcing the death of al-Qaˆim, Abu Yazid announced in a letter from the caliph. The text of another that of al-ManÒur, and three sermons (khu†bas) by that letter and many more like it, some of major value for the imams, just to cite the most prominent examples. It is the Fatimid history, were part of the cherished belongings of second section that contains most of the testimonials. Many Jawdhar. At this death he bequeathed them in turn to his own are simply notes and short messages from the imam, in this servant, ManÒur, who eventually published them, all to illus- case al-Mu¨izz exclusively. None of the latter material comes trate clearly how important his master had been. from the caliphs before him. By the time of Jawdhar’s death in 362/973 in the town of Despite previous scholarly use of this important text, it is Barqa en route with al-Mu¨izz from North Africa to Cairo, the quite likely that much is left to discover. One theme well archive contained well over a hundred items: documents, let- worth pursuing for which this is a prime source is the role of ters, copies of sermons, proclamations, notes by the imam on eunuch slaves in the society created around the Fatimid caliphs the backs of this request or that, and more. In one sense it and at their court. Jawdhar was a devout Muslim and obvi- represents what we might now call a “pious scrapbook” (a ously an Ismaili as well.